The photographs in LIVING CITY examine the contemporary cultural landscape of urban spaces – places made and lived in over time. They document the nature of urbanism in details of commerce, recreation, and social history, in cities in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Using elevated vantage points and deep vistas, the images reveal spatial and temporal connections not visible at pedestrian level. Filled with intimate details of street life while sharing a view of the gestalt, they examine the structures, collective narrative, and temporal multiplicity of urban space. Elements of architecture, infrastructure, signage, and occupation are rendered with a specificity of detail that is abundant, embedded and particular to its culture and time. When the images are printed large, one can scrutinize the rich complexity of urban space, allowing for a deeper appreciation of the layered and living spirit of the cities we inhabit.
The photographs in ARMATURE FOR STORIES examine the contemporary urban landscape of Vietnam, and were made in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Can Tho. They explore the nature of densely inhabited urban space, where history, social dynamics and commerce collide in a vibrant blend. As an offshoot of the project LIVING CITY, the images in ARMATURE FOR STORIES bring the viewer closer inside a landscape of embedded histories. The street level views that often blend private and public space provide a close examination of the artifacts and practices of daily living. The dynamics of the street and the particulars of architecture and infrastructure are rendered in formalist detail, providing an armature for a mutable collective narrative. The images included here and installed as a grid, are part of an on-going book project.